Kitum Cave Visit

Day 36
6:30 Breakfast
7:00 Leave for Mount Elgon National Park
1:00 Lunch
4:00 Wildlife Conservation
6:30 Dinner
7:30 Natural History

Going Into The Caves

See The Bats?

   It was a long drive to Mount Elgon National Park. There is a cave, Kitum Cave, where elephants go to scrape salt out of. In the park we saw buffalo, bushbacks, baboons and colobus monkey's but no elephants! "We had a guide (with a gun) take us up to the caves, it was a pretty steep climb. The entrance was wide and low. It was also so dusty and I stepped in elephant poop! It smelled like a stale stable. Inside the cave I was glad I had a flashlight to shine on the walls, they were covered in BATS! Their furry little bodies were all clumped together and when we shone our lights on them, they all took flight! I couldn't believe how many there were, they really pack it in to a tiny crevice! The scrapings on the walls were from the elephant tusks. When we turned the lights off it was PITCH black. it's so amazing that such large animals can have such agility and make their way into the cave in the dark." 10 years ago today I learned about a new ecosystem!

"Being Elephants"

Elephants Scrape The Walls With Their Tusks

Inside The Cave